to not put the heating on as much as everyone else?

[elmobaggins]

I grew up on a farm, in a very draft-prone house where the boiler was more broken than not, so am used to living in cold houses. I make sure we all wrap up warm at all times (i.e. appropriate thermals, multiple layers and very sturdy footwear, etc) and DH never seems to feel the cold - he works outside all day anyway.

However, now that DCs are getting to that age where they start to invite newly-made friends around, I've noticed a couple of comments from the other children/parents about how cold our house is - I've genuinely never noticed it before now... but I've just spotted a heating oil thread where someone commented they put their heating on all day when it's very cold outside I don't think I've had the heating on for more than 3 or 4 hours in the whole time we've lived in our house, and it's not on a timer or anything. I think we normally turn it on for the first time in late Nov/early Dec, and only on the occasional day it's very cold.

I'm starting to think that IABU for basically using the "can you feel your feet in thermals? if no, time to stick the heating on" as the threshold for if the heating gets popped on, and perhaps my level of use isn't quite normal for a family.

(Just wanted to add, DD doesn't complain of the cold - seems to have inherited DH's warm blood too.)

So, AIBU?

What's a normal "trigger" threshold for putting the heating on?

[Hulababy]

I feel fortunate to be financially ok to be able to do this though. I know for some people it can be a struggle to keep the house warm.

But also for some other people they just don't feel the cold. My dad never has. Don't think he's ever really owned a big thick winter coat or gloves as he just doesn't feel it.

[Bunbaker]

I remember the days of living in a house with no central heating, being cold all winter, huddling round the gas fire and not daring to have it on high because of the cost, wearing several layers to bed, waking up to ice on the entire inside of the window. I can assure you I never "got used to it".

I sympathise with those of you who can't afford to keep warm. It is so dispiriting and depressing. I envy those of you who can function well in low temperatures.

[Beksybob]

I don't think my house would ever reach 18 even if the heating was on constantly all winter. We have it on in the morning and the evening and it gets to about 14. Got a fire in the living room though, so it can get to 20 in there if you're really cranking it.

[samandi]

Hm, your house does sound quite cold. I don't tend to put the heating on as much as other people either, but I like to keep things comfortable. If you're having guests, their comfort should be the priority.

I do think some people put the heating on too much though. It's not necessary to have it on all day (and all night) as some people do.

[jchocchip]

We have a woodburner in the living room and are trying to turn the central heating down. Some parts of the house are colder than others but we don't usually need to wear thermals... just jumpers!

[Lucyellensmum95]

We have a log burner too - i love love LOVE it! We have had it for years and it was absolutely the best thing we have ever bought. We would freeze if it wasn't for this - i even phoned british gas the other week to question why, when we weren't even having the heating on for more than about 3 hours at the very lowest setting (so not worth having on really) was costing us £5 a day - i got a very rude woman on the end of the phone telling me "what do you expect? Things are very expensive these days" patronising cow - i was genuinely concerned there is a problem with our meter - but i daren't get it checked out as the woman took great delight in telling me "we get requests to check meters all the time because of this, if it turns out that there is no fault we will charge you to make the check - do you want it done? No? oh, i didn't think so" i had the Rage!! So now we use the log burner most of the time and it feels like a big V sign to british bastard gas. I bet their managing directors are sitting in a toasty warm board room when they are casually discussing their next price increase.

Tell Sid?? Ere, Sid - they are cunts, don't listen to them!!

[Crinkle77]

OP I think you are my sister. Ha ha. Her house is always cold but they never seem to feel it. I avoid going round cos it is miserable as I have to sit huddled under a blanket and the tip of my nose is freezing. Even when the heating is on it's still cold. One of my niece's friends even commented about it being cold. They played on the wii to warm up

[Messandmayhem]

I've never heated my house, but I think the lowest it has got to in the kids bedrooms is 11degrees. I have a small convection heater that we pop on to warm the sitting room up, it gets quite toasty quite quickly, the rest of the house is unheated. We all entirely electric (complete with tumble drier) and our quarterly bills usually come in around £200.

[Messandmayhem]

So no, YANBU, this heating the house to 28degrees nonsense is quite a recent phenomenon, when I was a kid you wore a jumper if you were cold, and wooly tights under your trousers, and I'm only in my twenties! I hate visiting people who heat their houses to ridiculous temperatures, I'm always too hot and feel faint.

[cleangreens]

I think it's hilarious to think you would be warm and toasty in these temperatures with just an extra jumper and woolly tights on! Fgs it is regularly going down well below freezing at night and barely above during the day.

I have a pair of skinny jeans on today with thermal long johns, two pairs of socks, thermal vest, a top, a jumper and big thick long jumper and a scarf on. My house is pretty warm but most people's standards (oil fired CH and 20kw woodburning stove) and I feel warm now.

I cannot bear being cold, it makes me ache with being stiff, the way you sit when you are frozen. Anyhow you can't sit under blankets all day, what about when you need to do stuff?

Messandmayhem, do you have many visitors ?!

[NicknameTaken]

I'm very tight with the heating. There's a gas fire in the sitting-room, so we keep that room warm (and that's where visitors sit anyway). Then when it's bedtime, we grab the hot water bottle and leap into bed.

I have actually taken it too far, because the house (private rented) is showing some signs of damp, so I'm putting the central heating on a bit more now.

[Helltotheno]

I really feel for those of you who can't afford heating, it's so so miserable. Our house was cold growing up but I don't think I really noticed it til I lived abroad for a while in an apartment that was heated to the same temp all the time, all over, then I found the house I grew up in unbearable when I came back and still do. I have having to 'manage' cold. With my mum, it's constant discussions about the cold and when the heat should go on and for how long blah blah. Just turn it on and leave it on already! Especially since she can afford it...

In our house, over the years, any spare cash we had, we put into things to improve the heat situation, ie insulation, new boiler, stove etc and that's made a huge difference. It's not too hot, not too cold now.

I think if you have to walk round your house in more than two layers, it's too cold and if you can afford to, just use the heat. If you can't, you have my sympathy, that's really tough :(

[Messandmayhem]

cleangreens i am not wearing extra layers ATM, but I think my area is doing much better than many areas right now, we don't have feet and feet of snow, just the occasional sprinkle. It's bitterly cold though. I don't have enough clothes to wear extra layers tbh, and I couldn't afford to put the heating on.
No visitors have complained of being cold, but I don't invite people round anyway.

[Bunbaker]

The temperatures where we live have been hovering around the freezing mark nearly all March. Not putting the heating on at all is not an option. Besides I don't want the pipes to freeze.

[chris481]

You all need better-insulated homes.Some people here are setting their central heating at a temperature my flat maintains even when the heating is off.

My central heating broke down one evening in winter a few years ago, when there was snow on the ground. The next day at midday, by listening for the click on the thermostat, I assessed the temperature at 15 degrees.

[Bunbaker]

But the clue is the word "flat". Our house is really well insulated, but it is a detached house and therefore has four outside walls and a roof. I can tell that our house is better insulated than others because we still have snow on our roof when others haven't.

[bluer]

That's true...I had a flat with no heating system. I had a oil radiator at the bottom of the internal stair and that was all I needed. The old dear down below liked it tropical and heat def rises. Our house is detached and if the heating isn't on out would be colder then that. We have proper insulation as well.

[cantspel]

I paid a fortune last year to have 3 bedrooms stripped back and modern insulation put in. It does make a difference but it wasn't cheap to do. My heating bills are hight but i have no choice i need to keep the place warm and anything under 21 is not warm enough. My last quarters bill was nearly £800 for gas and electric and i am expecting similar next month.

We can just about afford it but only by cutting back in other areas. I would hate to be in a position i couldn't afford to heat my home and cant understand anyone who has the money but would rather sit huddled under a duvet than turn the heating on.

[bluer]

Is that a timber frame house can't? We can't get cavity as we're timber and my dad suggested putting a layer under the plaster.

[LieInsAreRarerThanTigers]

We are usually set to 18 but bump it up a notch or put the gas fire on if my mum comes round, or the babysitter on a cold evening. Timer on for 2 hours in the morning and 4:30-10:30 in the evening, fleece blankets available for watching TV.

Recently have had Italian students staying in much colder weather than before and had to admit it was a bit chilly - still refused to put heating on overnight as requested by one lot though!

People I know who keep their houses hot have more colds and bugs than us - could there be a connection?

Also I am green, not just mean...I will turn it up a bit when I get my solar thermal system installed!

[cantspel]

No it is a 1960,s chalet style so in effect the upstairs bedrooms are in the roof space. We had the pasterboard ripped out and the rooms rebuilt with kingspan.

[bluer]

Ours is about that age but there's no insulation in the walls! Its still pretty toasty even without!

[Bunbaker]

"and cant understand anyone who has the money but would rather sit huddled under a duvet than turn the heating on."

Neither can I

"People I know who keep their houses hot have more colds and bugs than us - could there be a connection?"

I keep seeing this on mn, but don't agree. I get one cold about every two years and like a warm house. OH hardly gets any colds, and DD gets far fewer colds than one of her friends who lives in a fridge very cold house. In fact her entire family are always getting colds.

[LieInsAreRarerThanTigers]

Bunbaker, maybe some of the people who can afford it but choose not to are concerned about climate change? Or they could afford it if they went without something else which they would prefer?

I am trying to make my house as cheap to run and eco-friendly as possible - investing in solar panels (done) and solar heating (next on list) will cut my bills from around £250 a qtr (spread over the year) to about £50. But I need to save up!

[Wallison]

You charge people to stay at your house and then don't heat it properly? Blimey.